HEADLEY NL’S TOP PLAYER FOR AUGUST

LOS ANGELES 
The great month of August that has extended even stronger into September has garnered another award for Padres third baseman Chase Headley.

Headley was named the National League Player of the Month for August — the first Padre to be so honored since Tony Gwynn won the award in May of 1997.

“This means a lot to me,” said Headley. “It’s special to be recognized nationally with an award that is voted on by people who watch the game daily.”

Headley, 28, was honored for a month in which he tied for the major league lead in homers (10) and led the majors with 31 RBI. He hit .306 (33-for-108) in August with 20 runs scored and a .611 slugging percentage.

Headley earlier was named the National League Player of the Week for the week ending Aug. 12.

Headley went 7-for-13 in the first three games of September with two homers and nine RBI.

Entering Tuesday night’s game in Los Angeles, Headley was hitting .311 since the All-Star break (59-for-190) with four doubles, 16 homers, 50 RBI and 34 runs scored. He leads the National League in homers and RBI since the break.

Going into Tuesday night’s game, Headley was tied for second in the National League with 92 RBI and his 24 homers were six times last year’s count and double his previous career-best of 12 set in 2009. Headley’s previous career-high in RBI was 64, also set in 2009.

Four Padres added

The Padres on Tuesday added four players to their expanded September roster while designating two for assignment. The Padres are now carrying 31 players.

To make room for Bass and Solis on the 40-man roster, the Padres designated right-handed pitcher Ross Ohlendorf and catcher Eddy Rodriguez for assignment. Ohlendorf and Rodriguez both finished the minor league season Monday with Triple-A Tucson

Solis, 24, will become the 10th Padre to make his major league debut this season when he plays in a game. He is the only one of the four additions who hadn’t played with the Padres earlier in the season.

A native of Mexicali, Solis hit .283 with six homers and 40 RBI in 87 games with San Antonio. He signed with the Padres in 2005.

“All of our people involved with catching were impressed with the work Ali did starting with spring training,” said Padres manager Bud Black. “We like the defense, the arm and the way he worked with pitchers in spring training.

“We needed reinforcement at catcher.”

Solis was notified last Saturday by San Antonio manager (and former catcher) John Gibbons that he’d be spending the last month of the season in the major leagues.

“I was shocked and excited,” said Solis.

Solis is in the major leagues if not quite in a major league clubhouse. The visiting team clubhouse at Dodger Stadium is very small. So small that the cubicles for Solis and Parrino are actually down the hall and around the corner from their Padres teammates.